When you look at a map of the world all the earth’s landmasses are divided by borders. Each of these are made (and remade) through historical events reflecting the key ordering principle of our global system.
The Cold War (1947–91) was known as such because the presence of nuclear weapons made a traditional war between the United States and the Soviet Union unlikely as they each had the power to destroy each other and in doing so jeopardise human civilisation.
The three key actors of International Relations – nation-states, international organisations and individuals – were all in place by 1945 and they still encompass the basic shape of how we make sense of the world today.
Working with documents, in whatever form (multimedia, textual, digital/physical etc.) is the backbone of academic research and the bulk of how students conduct research.
Resources to give a broad overview of how distinctions between Positivism, Post-Positivism and Interpretivism shape important decisions on how (and which) methods and approaches are used by researchers.
There are three main ‘categories’ (in a broad sense) that are commonly used for research designs when analysing data: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches.
Before conducting research, it is important that you design a research proposal to serve as a plan to orient you as you conduct your research and seek to answer the question(s) you have set.
These resources have been curated to give a broad overview and introduction to the methods used in International Relations.
Interviews and focus groups are commonly used methods in Politics and International Relations research.
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study.
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